Whiffletree.



PATENTED JULY 7, 1908.

I. REED. WHIFFLETBEE.- @rntonron IILBD Aug. '1, 1907.

.. m r W... M m dw a v H n n I N a M filmw H 8 Witness:

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK REED, OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA.

WI-IIFFLE TREE To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK REED, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of Omaha, in the county of Douglas and State of Nebraska, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Whiffletrees, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to whi'ffletrees or other wagon and carriage draftmembers, and it is the object thereof to provide a light, stron andcheaply constructed whiflletree or the li e, made entirely of metal.

The invention consists in the details of construction by which a sightlyappearance and a maximum of strength are secured with the use of aminimum weight of material.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of a doubletree andswingletrees embodying my invention, Fig. 2 is a transverse sectionthrough the end of one of the swingletrees, Fig. 3 is a transversesection through the center-block of the doubletree, Fig. 4 is a bottomplan of the central portion of the doubletree, and Fig. 5 is atransverse section through one end of the doubletree and the center ofone of the swingletrees.

In carrying out my invention I construct both the doubletree andswingletrees in the form of a truss made u members formed of rolle-steel sections having both horizontal and vertical flanges, the saidrolled-steel members being connected at the center and ends of the trussby cast members, preferably of malleable iron or cast-steel. In thedrawings said rolled-steel members are shown as formed of angle iron,but other sections, such as channelor T-iron, having flanges at rightangles with each other, may be employed. The front members 1 of each ofthe trusses are straight from end to end, one flange of the sectionbeing dis osed in a vertical lane and the horizonta flange of thesectlon extending rearwardly from the upper edge of the ver ticalflange. The rear member 2 of each truss is slightly bent at its centerin a horizontal plane, the vertical flange being at the rearward sidethereof and the horizontal flange extending forwardly from the upperedge of the vertical flange.

The center-block 3 of the double-tree is made to fit between the frontand rear trussmembers 1 and 2, being secured thereto by rivets 4 assingthrough the horizontal flan es and rivets 5 assing through the verticaflanges of sai members. The under Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed. August 7, 1907.

of front and rear Patented July 7, 1908.

Serial No. 387,551.

side of the said block 3 has recesses 6 therein near its front and rearedges to permit the placing of the rivets 5, and on the upper side ofthe block at the center thereof is a boss through which is a verticalopening 7 to receive the wagon-hammer. The end blocks 8 of thedoubletree are secured between the vertical flanges of the truss-members1 and 2 by rivets 9 passing through both flanges and the block, and toeach of the horizontal flanges thereof by rivets 10. On both the upperand lower sides of said end blocks are small bosses through which passthe pins of the clevises 11. Said clevises 11 connect with the twistedlinks 12 which ass through the o enings of the center-bloc s 13 of theswing etrees. The said center-blocks 13 are secured to the front andrear truss-members 1 and 2 by rivets 14 extending through the horizontalflanges and rivets 15 extending through the vertical flanges of saidmembers, similarly to those securing the center-block 3 of thedoubletree.

At the ends of the swingletrees the blocks 16 are secured by rivets 17passing through both of the vertical flanges and rivets 18 assingthrough each of the horizontal anges of the members 1 and 2. At thecenters of the end-blocks 16 are openings for the trace-hooks 19, thehorizontal flanges of the members 1 and 2 having small notches in theadjacent edges thereof, as shown in Fig. 2, to complete said openings.

It will be a parent that, by the construction shown, a iight, strongwhiffletree may be made at a low cost, the rolled-steel trussmembershaving both horizontal and vertical flanges and securely connected witheach other and with the centerand end-blocks by rivets passing throughboth the horizontal and vertical flanges thereof, making a device inwhich a high resistance to bending stresses is secured with small weightof material and low cost of assembling the parts. It should also benoted that, by the construction shown, either doubletree or swingletreesare interchangeable with the wooden whiffletree-members in ordinary use,so that the swin letrees may be used with a wooden doub%etree, or thereverse.

Now, having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is:

1. A whiflletree comprising a front member and a rear member formed ofrolledsteel sections having horizontal and vertical flanges, a castcenter-block secured between the central parts of the front and rear members, cast end-blocks secured between the ends of the front and rearmembers, and means connecting said centerand endblocks with both thehorizontal and vertical flanges of the front and rear members.

2. A whiflietree comprising a straight front member formed of a rolledsteel section having horizontal and vertical flanges, a centrally-bentrear member formed of a rolledsteel section having horizontal andvertical flanges, a center-block secured between said front and rearmembers, end-blocks secured between said front and rear members, andrivets connecting said centerand end-blocks with both the horizontal andvertical flanges of both the front and rear members.

3. A whiflietree comprising a straight front member and a centrally-bentrear member each formed from a rolled steel angle bar, the horizontalflanges of the two angle bars being turned toward each other, a castcenter-block and end-blocks disposed between the two angle bars, andrivets connecting each of said end-blocks and the center-block with boththe horizontal and vertical flanges of both the front and rear anglebars.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presenceof two witnesses.

FRANK REED.

Witnesses:

D, O. BARNELL, ROY KRATZ.

